Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 23, 2019 47 MEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI L ost in the rubble of last year's 14-19 season (3-15 in the ACC) was that head coach Mike Brey's Notre Dame program had the most four-star talent — eight — in his now 20 seasons at the helm. That's not even including 2019-20 All-ACC candidate John Mooney, who was given only three stars such as recent predecessors that included All-American Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, Jerian Grant and Pat Con- naughton, the latter two of whom are now in the NBA. However, with four of those four- star prospects embarking into a rough initiation as ACC freshmen, plus a plethora of injuries for a sec- ond straight season, it made for what Brey called his "toughest year in bas- ketball as a head coach." Still, one of the positives was the fearlessness and moxie of 6-3, 175-pound freshman point guard Prentiss Hubb, who sat out his high school senior year — when he was hovering in top-50 territory as a pros- pect — at Gonzaga in Washington, D.C., because of a torn ACL. Hubb's 29 starts at point guard while play- ing 33.6 minutes per contest should benefit him this season. Only Chris Thomas in 2001-02 played more minutes as a Notre Dame true freshman in the Brey era. Hubb displayed tenacity and skills on defense, and finished sixth in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (plus- 2.0). "He did a fabulous job for what we asked him to do," Brey said of Hubb. The negative was Hubb shot only 32.4 percent from the field and 26.2 percent beyond the arc while finish- ing fourth in scoring with 8.1 points per game. Yet during a 40-minute workout to which media was invited this summer, Hubb was the standout. By our count in those three-on-three scrimmages, he converted all seven of his field goal attempts, two from the new longer-range international three-point line — although that is not necessarily how Brey will mea- sure Hubb's value. "I don't think he's ever going to be this knock-down guy, but he's a bet- ter shooter than last year and I think it's just a matter of getting a better feel for it, getting more confident and being more of a veteran," Brey said. "He played a lot of basketball against great guards. He's better for it." Hubb said he didn't have any stage fright or mental hurdles from his in- jury during his baptism by fire be- cause he was overjoyed at just being back in action. "Not being able to play for a whole year and then to be able to have Coach Brey have the trust in me to lead the team at point, that was excit- ing," Hubb said. Gaining more strength and stam- ina to finish off games was a collec- tive team emphasis this offseason, including adding a fourth day to strength workouts instead of the nor- mal three. "The last five minutes are the most important of the game," Hubb said of the lessons learned last year. "… Just closing games, that's going to be a big key for us this year. Individually, I just have to get stronger because there were a lot of stronger guys that I had to guard in the ACC." Although only a sophomore, Hubb already possesses a veteran's mental- ity. "I'm definitely prepared to handle a leadership role. As a point guard you have to be the voice of the coach on the court, because you can't hear [Brey] in a packed arena," Hubb said. "I have to be able to echo his calls and get my teammates where they need to be so we can win the game." Particularly gratifying to Brey has been the evolving on-court commu- nication. "Our sophomore class all talk more and are more comfortable … a year ago I couldn't get them to say anything," Brey said. "It's not a one-and-done group. It's a develop- ment group. … We threw them to the wolves last year and took our medicine. "The character of guys we have, they'll just get better together." Last year 's setbacks also have served as huge motivational factors. "It is not necessarily a bad thing because the kids that come to this place — regular students and our players — they haven't failed much," Brey said. "Handling failure overall at this place is probably pretty hard for this group of kids because they've just always been good. "If we get this thing going, it will be a great reference point for us some day. I would hope they would look back and say, 'Man, we got it handed to us, but we learned and we grew from it' — like the group that won [the ACC] in '15. They got their medicine in '14 (15-17 record, 6-12 in ACC) pretty good." ✦ A Vital Hubb Sophomore point guard Prentiss Hubb is eager to lead the Irish attack Only Chris Thomas in 2001-02 played more min- utes as a freshman under Mike Brey than Hubb (above), who finished sixth in the ACC in assist- to-turnover ratio. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN